You can take a guided tour of Edsel Ford (Henry Ford's only child) and Eleanor Ford's impressive mansion on the shore of Lake St. Clair in Grosse Pointe Shores. It was built in 1929, but looks and feels like a European country estate. In fact, Edsel Ford imported many of the stones and furnishings from England in order to make it resemble those homes. The guided tours of the estate bring you face to face with unusual features of the house, offering a window onto the interior life of the Ford family. Lectures on topics ranging from art, history and astronomy are often held at the Ford House, as well.

Meadow Brook Hall is another lavish mansion constructed by the heir of an auto-industry executive. Matilda Dodge, widow of John Dodge (of Dodge car fame), built the hall between 1926 and 1929. It contains 110 rooms and expensive furnishings and artworks from the 1920's ("The Gilded Age"). Guided tours are offered.

Cranbrook's collection surveys a wide range of 20th and 21st century art movements, including Art Deco, Arts & Crafts, Modernism, and Post-Modernism. It features work from artists like Eliel Saarinen and Duane Hanson. Temporary installations and exhibits display the work of emerging contemporary artists, including work from Cranbrook Academy of Art students. The museum highlights, too, the Academy's profound involvement in important contemporary art movements.

The 40-acre Cranbrook House and Gardens, Detroit's oldest English manor home, is open to the public via guided tours. You can see first-hand how Cranbrook's founders lived, as well as appreciate their unique vision of landscape design. The upper floors contain the administrative offices of Cranbrook Educational Community.

Greektown, located just northeast of Detroit's downtown, is the city's highest profile entertainment district. It is home to Greek restaurants, casinos and hotels (including the four-star Athenium Suite Hotel). In the first two decades of the 20th century, Greek immigrants - and before them, German immigrants - settled there and opened a variety of businesses. Now, only three strictly Greek restaurants remain, but many of the area's restaurants still serve Greek cuisine.

Address: Detroit, along Monroe Avenue between Brush and St. Antoine Streets.

The mission of the Michigan Science Center is "to inspire curious minds of all ages to discover, explore and appreciate science, technology, engineering and math in a creative, dynamic learning environment." The Center features a planetarium, an IMAX Dome Theater, over 250 hands-on exhibits, lab activities and temporary exhibits. Planetarium show titles include "Our Place in Space," and "Stories in the Sky".

Judge Augustus Woodward (1774-1827) envisioned this park as being the center of Detroit's downtown, commercial district. It is at the heart of a two square block zone that features the Compuware and Quicken Loans headquarters, as well as the landmark Penobscot Building. The park is the point of origin for all of the city's major avenues. In the winter it is home to majestic ice sculptures like the seven that are currently there. It also hosts seasonal events.

This unique, lively southwest Detroit neighborhood first received Mexican immigrants in the 1940's. Subsequent waves of Mexican immigrants in the 1970's, 80's, 90's and during the first decade of the 21st century have reinforced the character of the place. The Detroit Free Press has named Mexicantown one of the city's model neighborhoods for the future of Detroit. Dining options in the area include El Barzón, a Mexican-Italian restaurant, as well as Mexican Town and Xochimilco, both Mexican restaurants. Every year the neighborhood hosts a colorful Cinco de Mayo parade and festival.

Photo credit: Tripadvisor.com

Address: Fort Street on the southeast, and Rosa Parks Blvd. on the far east, border the neighborhood. Major thoroughfares include Bagley Avenue and Vernor Street.

You can take a tour of the factory where Henry Ford designed and built the famous Model T car, beginning in 1908. A nonprofit group, The Model T Automotive Heritage Complex, purchased the building in 2000 to prevent it from being demolished.

The Renaissance Center encompasses seven interconnected skyscrapers owned by General Motors in downtown Detroit that serve as GM's world headquarters. One of its seven buildings, the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, is the tallest hotel in the Western hemisphere. The base of the "Ren Cen" - as it is called by Detroiters - features banks, retail stores, and restaurants. You can take a guided tour of the Ren Cen and attend any of the dozens of conferences held within the complex.

Comerica Park is a combination ballpark, theme park, and baseball museum. A carousel, a ferris wheel, a huge water feature in center field and a museum of baseball history on the main concourse are some of the attractions. The park is most famous as the home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team. Dining options include the Big Cat Food Court, which offers traditional stadium foods like elephant ears, pretzels, gyros, ice cream, lemonade, daiquiris and hot dogs, as well as the Brushfire Grill and the Tiger Den Lounge (available only to members of the Tiger Club).

Located in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Fair Lane is the sprawling former residence of automaker Henry Ford and his wife Clara. The Fords settled into their new home in 1915 and lived there until their deaths in 1947 and 1950, respectively. The grounds of Fair Lane include a hydroelectric plant, which made the estate energy independent for heat and light.

Belle Isle is an island park in the Detroit River, between the Canadian and U.S. shores. It is approximately 3 miles long and up to 1 mile wide, and features protected forests, hiking trails, and sports facilities. Also on the island are a 1904 aquarium (still in use), a historic greenhouse (also still in use), a golf course, a zoo, and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, with numerous ship models and other exhibits illustrating the history of shipping on the Great Lakes. Belle Isle is also home to Detroit's only public beach.

The Motown Museum is a small shingle-clad building that was occupied from 1957 to 1972 by the Motown Records Corporation, which was behind The Temptations, The Supremes, and Stevie Wonder, among others. Visitors can see the actual recording studio where Marvin Gaye and others produced hit songs. The museum chronicles the history of the recording studio and its founder. Nowadays the non-profit organization Motown Museum maintains the space and offers guided tours.

Address: 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, MI 48208-1237, United States

Like the Cranbrook Art Museum, Pewabic Pottery represents Detroit's important role in contemporary artistic movements, especially Arts and Crafts. Iridescent glazes made at Pewabic Pottery are found in such prominent places as the Louvre Museum in Paris, Chicago's Shedd Aquarium, and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC.

Mary Chase Stratton and her partner Horace James Caulkins opened Pewabic Pottery in 1903. The studio, operated by Stratton, continued until her death in 1961 and a few more years after that by her assistant. Today Pewabic Pottery operates the ceramics museum, gallery workshop and studio.

Address: 10125 East Jefferson Avenue, Detroit, MI 48214, United States

Built in 1951, the Detroit Historical Museum features a collection of 15,000+ artifacts related to the city, as well as changing exhibitions and guided tours. It also features reconstructions of old Detroit streets, model railways, dioramas and periodic special exhibitions on the history of the city. Periodically, documentaries and other films are shown at the museum. This is a great museum to gain a general overview of the city and the events that shaped it.

This major historical site was of strategic importance to several nations that occupied the Detroit region over the centuries. The Detroit Historical Society (which also operates the Detroit Historical Museum) has maintained the fort since 1949, but the fort received thousands of enlistees and draftees during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, where they were sworn in before being sent elsewhere.

Built in the 1840s, Fort Wayne includes the star-shaped fort, dry moat, tunnels, barracks, and garrison, an immense parade ground and the restored Commanding Officer's House. The fort hosts a number of events throughout the summer. Walking tours are offered at $5/tour.

The Detroit Public Library formally opened to the public on March 25, 1865. The initial collection included 5,000 books and was located in a room in the old Capitol High School. The library's main branch, on Woodward Avenue, opened on March 21, 1921. There are currently 10 departments within the main library and 23 branches. The majestic building itself is the main attraction and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Cass Gilbert, the same architect who designed the Woolworth Building and the U.S. Supreme Court, designed the main branch of the Detroit Public Library. Guided tours (public and private) offer more insights into the dozens of hidden facets of the library's main branch.

The Masonic Temple of Detroit is classical Gothic architecture built with Indiana limestone. The temple was dedicated in 1926 and is the largest temple of its kind in the world. The building has three major divisions: the ritualistic tower, the auditorium, and the Shrine Club. The facility hosts major concerts and other events.

Aside from the amenities listed above, the Masonic Temple features three large theaters.